There are many individuals who search for buried treasure and other valuables using portable electronic metal detectors. These people pursue treasure hunting usually as a hobby, and occasionally for professional purposes. Some individuals search through old military battle sites for relics, while others concentrate on locations like beaches, where jewelry tends to fall off of bathers' fingers when they enter the water. In any case treasure searching requires hours devoted to scanning the ground with the metal detector search head, watching the readout and/or listening to an audible signal output.
Many metal detectors known in the prior art include a housing which supports the electronics assembly, the battery power supply, and the readout and controls. This housing may be connected to the search head wand by a cable, the housing being supported on the body of the individual using the detector. Unfortunately, the means known in the prior art for supporting the housing are deficient, particularly in that they do not support the housing so that the readout display and controls are visible and accessible to the user. These prior art support devices also do not support the housing in a stable position, especially when the individual must bend down to dig out a suspected find.